Toads burrow into holes and other spaces during the winter to hibernate. I found these two fellows, a large one and a small one, in this access point to our in-ground sprinkler system.
There is a medium-sized crack in the cover to the access point, so I figure they crawled in earlier this winter and are waiting out the remainer of the cool weather. However, the big one I don't think would be able to hop back out, so I opened the cover one evening and waited for him to hop out. At the same time, I actually extracted the small one and placed him in the grass next to the hole. A week later and the large one is still in there. Obviously he knows more about when it's time to leave than I do, so I'll leave him alone for now. I hope I didn't do the small one a disservice by moving him from his temporary abode. By the way, can you spot the smaller of the two toads? He's pretty well hidden.
